


stumble 'til you crawl

by barelyprolific



Series: sweetness [2]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-05-29 13:51:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19401628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barelyprolific/pseuds/barelyprolific
Summary: Odds and ends from the "Sinking Into Sweet Uncertainty"-verse.





	1. tell me what do I need

**Author's Note:**

> Someday I'll actually finish SITSU.

After the tense silence of dinner, Levi is thankful to escape outside while Nico’s mother and sister get dessert ready. He stands on the front porch of the Kim home, shivering in the night air. Every puff of breath is a white cloud that dissipates slowly as it expands and chills. Levi watches them, counting the seconds it takes, focusing on the steady in and out of his chest as he breathes.

“Hey.”

Nico’s voice is practically in his ear, and Levi jumps, almost pitches forward over the railing. It’s only Nico’s hands, big and warm on his shoulders, that stop him. They pull him back against a solid chest, Nico’s arms wrapping around him. The sudden heat that engulfs him has Levi sighing, relaxing into the embrace.

“Sorry I scared you.” Nico’s lips brush the shell of Levi’s ear and he shivers. “And sorry about my family.”

“I just don’t understand. I thought they wanted you here, but they’re basically ignoring you.” Levi twists in Nico’s arms, putting his hands on his chest and tilting his head back.

“That’s just how they are. How they’ve been since I came out. They want me around for appearances, but they don’t…want me around.”

Levi doesn’t speak for a few seconds, drumming his fingers against Nico’s chest, thinking the situation over. He shivers again, the cold creeping in again now that he’s not pressed so completely against him.

“We don’t have to stay,” he eventually says. “I could fake an emergency and say you have to take me home.”

Nico smiles slightly, the barest lift of the corners of his mouth. His eyes warm, though, brighten just a little. Enough to let Levi know Nico appreciates the offer, at least.

“Where would we go?”

Levi’s fingers slide up to trace over the peek of collar bone under Nico’s Henley. He glances up at him through his lashes.

“Casey’s having a movie night?”

Nico grins, his own fingers dipping down to stroke just under the fabric of Levi’s sweater, feather-light touches on his hips.

“Movie night sounds fun.”

“Or,” Levi taps Nico’s chest, “we could take advantage of our rural surroundings and find somewhere to stargaze.”

Nico doesn’t say anything for the span of one heartbeat, two. Then he detangles from Levi, shrugging out of his coat.

“Here,” he hands it to Levi, “take my jacket. If we’re going to stargaze, I don’t want you getting cold.”

“You just want me in your clothes,” Levi teases, dutifully shrugging it on. It swamps him, hanging from his hands, loose on his shoulders.

“At least until I can get you out of yours,” Nico agrees. Levi flushes, pokes Nico’s chest, slips his arms around his waist. Tilts his head back for a kiss Nico gives him with a smile. When he pulls back, Nico glances towards the house, then nods to where the car is waiting. “C’mon.”

“Shouldn’t I make my excuse? We should say goodbye.” Levi’s not too keen on going back inside, however; he doesn’t fight when Nico starts herding him off the porch.

“I’ll text my sister, she’ll cover for us. I just want to get out of here.”

Levi can understand that. If he were Nico, he’d never want to visit home. He’s never been more grateful for his mother before. He reaches out, takes Nico’s hand as they walk to the car.

“Next time your parents invite you to dinner, say no and come have dinner with my mom instead.”

Nico squeezes Levi’s hand, leaning into him a little.

“Yeah,” he says, “okay. That sounds nice.”

The rest of the night ends up being pretty nice, too.


	2. string from your tether unwinds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico comforts Levi after a loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First person to pick out the reference and comment with the name of the show gets a fic of their choice over on my [tumblr](schmicoismysunsword.tumblr.com/ask). Because if you catch it and you know it, you deserve a prize.

Levi’s bed might be Nico’s favorite place in the world, even when he’s not in it. It smells like him, his shampoo and detergent his mom uses for laundry. The mattress is old--Levi told him, once, that it belonged to his grandfather, “But he didn’t die in it or anything!”--squeaky and soft. Just shifting his weight a little makes it groan. Nico settles in further anyway.

He’s supposed to be reading _The Color Purple_ for his English class, and to be fair, Nico had attempted to start the book. Two pages in, he realized he was too distracted listening for the sound of his boyfriend upstairs. Now it’s open on his chest as he scrolls through his phone.

A text from Link pops up, with a picture attached of him and Taryn with huge bowls of frozen yogurt, telling him that he and Levi should join them. 

**He’s not home yet** , Nico texts back, and almost immediately receives a response. 

**Don’t worry. I’m sure everything is fine.**

Nico sighs, rubs his free hand over his face. He’s sure Levi is fine too, or at least, he hopes so. His boyfriend had promised to call him after the debate, but it was supposed to be over forty-five minutes ago and there’s been nothing. 

When he hears the front door open, Nico perks up, dropping his phone and sitting up a little. As much as Mrs. Schmitt likes him, she still doesn’t really approve of another boy lying around on her son’s bed, with or without said son. 

Nico can hear Myrna’s voice, low, but not Levi’s, and he can’t catch what’s being said through the door to the basement. He stands up, stretching, and moves over to the table to wait. Soon enough, there’s a creak, footsteps at the top of the stairs. Levi appears a step at a time, feet first.

Feet dragging. 

Lead drops Nico’s stomach down to practically his knees, or at least that’s how he feels when he finally sees his boyfriend’s devastated face. The question about how it went dies on his tongue.

“Oh.” Levi pauses, one hand on the railing, at the sight of Nico, like he forgot that Nico was going to be waiting for him. “Hey, I, um…”

His nose is red, and there are water stains smudged his glasses he hasn’t bothered to wipe off. In two steps, Nico has crossed over to him and put his hands on his boyfriend’s waist.

“What happened?”

“I lost,” Levi says simply, dropping his gaze to look at his shoes. “I blew it. We made it to regionals and I fucked it up.” 

“Hey, I’m sure it wasn’t all your fault, Levi.”

“No, it was.” Levi’s voice pitches higher with his insistence. “It really was. Everyone who was there knows it. I forgot...everything. All my counterarguments.” When he breaks out of Nico’s hold to go sit, hunched, on the bed, Nico follows, sitting down next to him. He places a hand on Levi’s back, rubbing softly. 

It has the opposite effect. Levi curls in further on himself, away from Nico’s touch. 

“Levi…”

“Do you ever get tired of it?”

The question startles him. Nico narrows his eyes, studying the side of his boyfriend’s miserable face. 

“Tired of it?”

“Tired of dating the biggest loser in school.”

“I’m not, though.” 

“You are. Or… I was. Until you came along. ‘Glasses’, remember?” 

Nico remembers. It was the only thing he’d heard Levi called outside of teachers and his friends until Nico himself made it clear it wasn’t cool. 

“I never thought you were a loser.”

“And I never understood why,” Levi shoots back, finally looking at Nico again with a glint in his eye Nico’s never seen before. It makes him pull back a little.

“Because you’re not.”

“I literally just lost a huge debate. Losing something by definition makes me a loser.”

“You lost one debate out of how many that you’ve won?”

“Those weren’t regionals.”

“There’s always next year.”

Levi’s chuckle is bitter. Nico has to resist the urge to pinch his nose in exasperation. This is a side of his boyfriend that rarely surfaces; self-deprecation isn’t a good look on him, particularly serious self-deprecation.

Nico thought he’d been helping Levi’s self-esteem issues, but apparently he hadn’t been making as much progress as he thought. 

“Look, Levi, you’re disappointed in yourself right now, because you lost, but one loss doesn’t make you a loser. It makes you a regular person. And you’re a pretty awesome regular person.”

This time, there’s disbelief in Levi’s chuckle. “I just don’t get it. I’ve never gotten it. Why do you want to be with me, of all people? Right from that first day. When you’re you, and I’m just...” He gestures to himself. 

“Smart? Funny? Cute? Levi, for every bad thing you see about yourself, I see ten good things. I think you’re amazing. You’re resilient and sweet and have the biggest heart. I’ve never known you to intentionally hurt someone’s feelings or leave them out. You’re a good guy. My guy.”

Levi sniffs. Sniffs again. Leans in closer to Nico, just a little. Enough that Nico feels he has permission to start rubbing his back again.

“I love you,” he says, so quiet that for a second, Nico thinks he imagined it. Levi’s tense, though, waiting for a response.

Heart galloping in his chest like a herd of wild ponies running free across the plains, Nico pulls Levi closer, kissing the top of his head. 

“I love you too,” he says.

Because he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna end up finishing SITSU just because canon schmico has me meh lately. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Hoping the new season changes that!


End file.
